Watch escapement mechanism

ABSTRACT

A shock resistant watch of relatively few parts and consequent inexpensive construction employing a dumbbell balance freely pivoted on a staff with the only connection between the balance and the staff being a leaf spring. The entire gear train of the watch is arranged on two shafts and the minute and hour hands are both driven directly by an intermediate wheel. The entire watch is assembled without screws, nuts or bolts.

United States Patent Kock [54] WATCH ESCAPEMENT MECHANISM [72] Inventor:Bruce A. Kock, 6017 Ocean View Dr., Oakland, Calif. 94618 [22] Filed:June 29, 1970 [21] Appl. N0.: 50,745

Related US. Application Data [62] Division of Ser. No. 726,347, May 3,1968, Pat.

[52] US. Cl ..58/l18 [51] Int. Cl. ..G04b 15/00 [58] Field of Search..58/116-l24 [56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,364,14312/1944 Horton et al ..58/117 X 681,006 8/1901 Thim ..58/1l8 3,425,2122/1969 Verde ..58/1l6 1 1 Aug. 22, 1972 FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS7,456 5/1837 Great Britain ..58/1 17 Primary Examiner-Richard B.Wilkinson Assistant Examiner-George H. Miller, Jr.

Attorney-Flehr, Hohbach, Test, Albritton and Herbert [57] ABSTRACT Ashock resistant watch of relatively few parts and consequent inexpensiveconstruction employing a dumbbell balance freely pivoted on a staff withthe only connection between the balance and'the staff being a leafspring. The entire gear train of the watch is arranged on two shafts andthe minute and hour hands are both driven directly by an intermediatewheel. The entire watch is assembled without screws, nuts or bolts.

4 Claims, 3 Drawing Figures PATENTED M1822 rm SHEEI 1 OF 3 Fig.1

INVEN'TOR. Bruce A Kock "5244, 34.444 m f M Attorneys PATENTEDmsze m2SHEET 2 [IF 3 INVESTOR.

Bruce A. Kock orneys PATENTEDauszz m2 SHEET 3 BF 3 INVENTOR.

Bruce A. Kock I rrorneys WATCH ESCAPEMENT MECHANISM CROSS-REFERENCE TORELATED APPLICATION This application is a division of application Ser.No. 726,347, filed May 3, 1968, now US. Pat. No. 3,613,353.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION In the past, design of watches and watchmovements has been concentrated in the area of increasing the accuracywhile reducing the size of the overall watch. This concentration, ofcourse, has not only resulted in a relatively high cost of manufacturein watches but has also severely complicated the problem of making thewatch shock resistant. Despite the trend reduce the size of watches, thedesign has been primarily such that each gear or wheel is secured to anindependent shaft demanding numerous shaft bearings to be criticallylocated. The watches of the prior art also utilize the escapementregulated gear train to drive only the hour hand directly. A second geartrain drives the minute hand from the hour hand.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION AND OBJECTS A watch incorporating an adjustabledumbbell balance freely pivoted on its staff with the only connectionbetween the balance and the staff being a leaf spring.

It is a general object of the invention to provide a watch havingrelatively few and easily assembled parts.

It is another object to provide a watch utilizing a dumbbell balance incombination with a leaf spring.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a watchin accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 2 is an exploded view of a portion of the watch shown in FIG. 1illustrating the gear train;

FIG. 3 is an exploded view of a dumbbell balance used in the watch ofFIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a sectional view along the line 4-4 of FIG. 1 showing theinterrelationship of the minute and hour wheels with the intermediatewheel; and

FIG. 5 is a sectional view along the line 5- 5 of FIG. 2 showing thegear train of the watch.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Referring to the figures, thewatch may include a case 11 having a crystal 13 upon which a clock dialis imprinted. The watch further includes a top plate 15 and a bottomplate 17 which are held in spaced parallel relationship to each other bymeans of a number of stud posts 19 secured to the top plate 15. Thestuds 19 are frictionally held in the holes 21 in the bottom plate 17 soas to provide a secure assembly of the watch. The holes 21 aretangentially slitted to provide spring tongues 22 which grip the ends ofthe posts 19.

The upper and lower plates include openings 23 and 25, respectively, forrotatably receiving the shaft ends 27 and 29 of an arbor member 31. Inaddition to the shaft ends 27 and 29 the arbor member 31 includes amainspring arbor 33, a first wheel 35 and a wheel supporting arbor 37.The various parts of the arbor 31 may be formed as unitary element.

Freely rotatable about the mainspring arbor 33 is a mainspring barrel 39which includes not only a barrel portion 41 but also a tooth portion 43.Restrained between the arbor 33 and the barrel 41 is the mainspringitself 45, one end of which is secured to the barrel by means ofa hook47 fitted through a slit 48 in the barrel. The other end of the springis secured to the arbor by means of a hook 49 fitted into a slit 50.

Also freely rotatable about the arbor 31 is a third wheel 51 including apinion portion 53 and a large gear portion 55. As can be seen mostclearly in FIG. 5 the shaft portion 27 of the arbor 31 extends throughthe upper plate 15 and has frictionally secured thereto still anothergear, the clutch gear 57. Although it normally follows the arbor 31 theclutch gear 57 can be made to slip by excessive force.

The top plate 15 also includes a downwardly extending stud 59 which fitsinto an opening 61 on a raised portion 63 of the lower plate 17. Asecond wheel 65 having a large gear portion 67 and a pinion portion 69is rotatably mounted on the stud 59. Also rotatably mounted on the stud59 is a wheel 71 including a pinion 73 and an escape wheel 75.

As will be seen hereinafter the mainspring barrel 39 is held fast suchthat the gear train thus defined is propelled by the mainspring 45. Themainspring rotates the arbor 31, the large gear 35 of which rotates thesecond wheel 67 through the pinion portion 69 of the latter. The largegear portion 67 of the second wheel 65 rotates the third wheel 51 by itsengagement with the pinion portion 53 thereof. The large gear portion 55of the third wheel engages the pinion 73 of the wheel 71, the escapewheel 75 cooperating with an escape pallet to retard movement of thegear train as will be described hereinafter.

As intermediate wheel 77 having a large gear or minute drive portion 79and a pinion or hour'drive portion 81 is rotatably secured to the topplate 15 by means of a post 83 frictionally engaged in a slitted opening84 in the same manner as the posts 19 in the holes 21. The wheel 77 ispositioned such that the large gear 79 engages the clutch gear 57.

A crown 85 having a crown stem 87 is rotatably received between bearingblocks 89 and 91 on the lower and upper plates 17 and 15, respectively.An extension 93 of the stem is rotatably received in a bearing 95 on thelug 97 extending downwardly from the top plate 15. The stem 87 includesa pair of annular grooves 99 and 101 which alternately cooperate with afinger 103 resiliently extending from the bearing block 89. Referring toFIG. 5, the grooves 99 and 101 serve to positively position a gear 105affixed to the stem 87 either in engagement with the teeth 43 of themainspring barrel as shown in solid lines or alternately with the largegear 79 of the intermediate wheel 77 as shown in phantom lines.

In the solid line position of the gear 105 rotation of the crown willcause rotation of the mainspring barrel in the direction to causewinding of the mainspring 45. Reverse rotation of the spring barrel 39is prevented by means of a finger 107 upset from the lower plate 17 asshown in FIG. 2. The finger 107 engages the gear 43 and not only permitsits unidirectional rotation while the watch is being wound but alsoprevents the barrels rotation while the watch is running.

With the crown withdrawn from the watch, that is moved to the positionshown in phantom line, rotation of the crown causes rotation of theintermediate wheel 77 so as to permit setting of the watch hands in amanner to be described hereinafter. Rotation of the intermediate wheel77, however, likewise causes rotation of the clutch gear 57. Since theclutch gear 57, however, is affixed to the stem 27 of the arbor 31 onlyby friction, rotation thereof does not cause rotation of the arboritself. Rotation of the arbor is restrained by the escape mechanism aswell as by the finger 107.

Referring particularly to FIG. 4 it is seen that the large gear portion79 of the intermediate wheel 77 engages a minute wheel 109. The wheel109 includes a hub 110 and is carried by a shaft 111 formed on the upperplate 15. The shaft 11 is peened or otherwise turned at the top to forma stop 114. The pinion portion of the intermediate wheel 77 engages anhour wheel 115 which has a hub 117 rotatably secured about the hub 110.The hour hand 1 19 is secured to the hub 117.

Referring to FIG. 3 the escapement mechanism is shown to include anupper bridge 121 and a lower bridge 123 having openings 125 and 127respectively through which a stud 129 may be passed to frictionallyengage an opening 131 in the upper plate. The upper bridge 121 furtherincludes a pair of arcuate openings 133 and 135 which receive downwardlyextending posts 137 and 139 on the upper plate 15. An upwardly extendinglip 141 on the lower bridge cooperates with the rear face of the bridgesuch that the two bridges may rotate about the stud 129 in a unitarymanner when the stud is loose. The bridges 121 and 123 further includeopenings 143 and 145 between which is rotatably mounted a balance staff147. The balance staff 147 includes an escape pallet 151 and a balancespring 153 which is in the form of a leaf spring. A balance dumbbell 155is rotatably mounted on the staff 147 and includes downwardly extendinglugs 157 between which the leaf spring 153 rides.

In assembly the escape pallet 151 is positioned in engagement with theescapement wheel 75. By rotating the bridges 121 and 123 about the stud129, the pallets position with respect to the escape wheel 75 may beadjusted. As the pallet is positioned deeper into the escape wheel,timing of the watch may be slowed whereas a decrease in depth wouldcause speeding of the timing.

In operation, the watch is wound with the crown positioned as shown insolid lines in FIG. 5. Rotation of the crown caused the spring barrel 39to rotate thereby carrying one end of the spring 45. The other end ofthe spring is restrained by the arbor 31 whose rotation is limited bythe escapement mechanism. If it is desired to set the hands of thewatch, the crown is withdrawn to the phantom line position shown in FIG.5 where the gear engages the intermediate wheel 77. The intermediatewheel is thus rotated as are the minute and hour wheels and 109 withtheir respective hands. Rotation of the arbor 31 and unwinding .oroverwinding of the spring 45 is prevented by the clutch gear 57 whichengages the arbor frictionally together with the escapement which limitsrotation of the arbor.

When the watch is running, the finger 107 prevents rotation of thespring barrel 39 such that the spring 45 applies a rotational force tothe gear train including thc first wheel 35, second wheel 65 and thirdwheel 51. he

escape wheel 71 is driven by the third wheel 51 and its rotationalvelocity is limited by its cooperation with the palate 151 which rocksback and forth clearing individual teeth of the wheel 75. Rocking motionof the pallet 151 is, of course, governed by the dumbbell to which it iscoupled by means of the leaf spring 153. In this manner the speed of theentire gear train is regulated thereby providing an accurate timingaction.

If the timing action is too fast or too slow, the pallet 151 can beadjusted by loosening the stud 129 and rotating the bridges 121 and 123thereabout to vary the interengagement of the pallet 151 and the escapewheel 71. When properly adjusted, the stud 129 may be again tightened toprevent further rotation of the bridges.

Iclaim:

1. In a watch movement, an improved escapement comprising a pallet,pivotal balance means, and spring means interconnecting said pallet andsaid balance means.

2. In a watch movement, an improved escapement comprising a shaft, meansrotatably journaling said shaft, a balance bar freely pivotal on saidshaft, an escape pallet fixed to said shaft, and spring means, one endof said spring means being secured to said shaft and at the other endbeing coupled to said balance bar, whereby movement of said balance baris transmitted to said pallet.

3. The escapement claimed in claim 2 wherein said spring means is a leafspring.

4. The escapement claimed in claim 3 wherein said balance bar includes apair of pins, said leaf spring being slidably engaged between said pins.

1. In a watch movement, an improved escapement comprising a pallet,pivotal balance means, and spring means interconnecting said pallet andsaid balance means.
 2. In a watch movement, an improved escapementcomprising a shaft, means rotatably journaling said shaft, a balance barfreely pivotal on said shaft, an escape pallet fixed to said shaft, andspring means, one end of said spring means being secured to said shaftand at the other end being coupled to said balance bar, whereby movementof said balance bar is transMitted to said pallet.
 3. The escapementclaimed in claim 2 wherein said spring means is a leaf spring.
 4. Theescapement claimed in claim 3 wherein said balance bar includes a pairof pins, said leaf spring being slidably engaged between said pins.